NEW DELHI: India has seen its highest foreign tourist arrival (FTA) growth in percentage terms from Somalia between pre-Covid 2019 and 2024. At over 144%, the poor east African country is the only one to register a triple digit growth rate, surging from 5,044 in 2019 to 12,320 in 2024, according to Union tourism ministry data. Besides this surprise entry, the other countries in the top five by growth rate are Cambodia (81%), Kazakhstan (72%), Vietnam (61%) and Bhutan (47%). Somalia's growth rate would have been higher had it not seen its tourists dip from 16,607 in 2023 to 12,320 in 2024. India had 99.5 lakh FTAs in CY (calendar year) 2024, less than the pre-Covid all-time high of almost 1.1 crore. The travel industry expects to breach pre-Covid numbers either this year or latest by ea

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